They are saying HERE that a U-Turn has a team that has a completed one Detour turn back and complete the other one. Fact? Guess? Your guess is as good as mine!

And I'll go out on a limb here and say that a speed bump just might be designed to slow the racers down. A time penalty of some sort? Again, this is a guess...

But fun to see how the new wrinkles play out! I am mostly curious about what would make a team deserve one of the new wrinkles? A penalty? An option for some sort of edge? Hmmm....

Logged

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Too bad TPTB decided to keep the program to only 60 minutes instead of the traditional 90 or 120 minutes. The opening sequences through the teams boarding their flights to Ireland took up the usual 18 minutes. What was missing from the first ep were the scenic shots of the place being visited; program could have included some great scenics of Ireland, which has been one of the better aspects of the race.

A little abrupt having the teams suddenly arrive in Shannon, and no way would Briish Airways use a 747 for a local flight from Heathrow to Shannon, nor would AerLingus use the same plane from Dublin to Shannon as they do from LAX to Dublin. Oh well, no other visual available I guess.

The cab ride from Shannon to Rossaveel took 2 hours (planes arrived at Shannon at 12:42 and 12:49 and the clock in the ferry terminal showed 2:55 when Azaria and Hendekea bought their ticket for the 4:45 ferry. I hope they all had enough cash to pay for the cab ride!

Interesting to see TK and Rachel still wandering around in front of the terminal at Shannon as the teams from the BA flight started to come through the doorway. They must have seen the other teams grab cabs to get on their way.

Didn't matter, we had a nice speed bump at the ferry terminal as all teams got on the 4:45 ferry.

I wonder if the producers had more planned for Inishmore than just to walk up to the church to get the time for the ferry ride back to Rossaveel?

The time of the return trip was a major factor in the placement of the teams at the end. Teams on the first ferry came in 2, 3, and 4. Only the winners, Azaria and Hendekea picked up time (and they had the one donkey who raced up the trail passing all others) since they were 30 minutes behind. But the teams on the last ferry, 90 minutes behind the leaders, ended up 5,6,7,8, and 9. But two teams on the second ferry ended up as the penultament team and the losers; due to two balking mules.

It was interesting to note that the three teams that arrived on the 8:00 ferry (at 8:55) kept their backpacks on for the bike for two ride, high-wire act, and the donkey pull. The teams arriving on the following ferries all left their backpacks in their SUVs when the tasks began. I wonder who gave the latter teams that good advice. And speaking of Backpacks, it looks like most teams have learned from experience and left all that excess gear at home. Nathan and Jennifer have really small loads.

Considering that the teams arrived back in Rossaveel between 8:55AM and 10:15AM, it looks like the first teams arrived at the mat around noon time, while the final arrivals looked to be several hours later from the way the sun had moved from the side of Phil's head to be full in the face at the end.

At least it is a start, and we detectives had it pretty well cased out along with most of the locations except for the small church on Inishmore.

GMAN, The precise amount of money teams received was $419(I found this out from a Web Clip and added this parenthetical note). That will buy the ferry tickets, overnight accommodations on Inismor as well as a very long taxi ride and there should be a bit still left.

But--is there anything new tucked inside that second one? I thought I saw some new things...

Logged

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Azaria and Hendekea may have finished first in the leg, but the real winners were the donkeys. Phil should have a donkey greeter in every leg.

Donkey greeter: Hee haw!Phil: Nathan & Jennifer? The donkey says you're the last to arrive.Donkey greeter: Hee haw!Phil: The donkey says she's sorry to tell you've been eliminated from the race.Donkey greeter: Hee haw!Phil: And she says you two don't know how to treat donkeys.Donkey greeter: Hee haw!Phil: And you two must leave here without your possessions.Jennifer: Hey! That's never happened to an eliminated team before!Donkey greeter: Hee haw!Phil: The donkey says it's a new rule. It's for teams who treat donkeys like crap. Now give me your money and backpacks.

for those force to U-Turn ... they have to turn back again and do all task again ... once completed... the can proceed to pit stop ... sound like Fast Forward ... the contra ... from the U-turn ahead, u wont know the next task ... the pro - u may get to pit stop 1st if nxt location/task take longer time ..

What a trip. What you didn't see... how high that hill climb actually was. The fact that only 5 teams had the luxury of staying in the local hotel. We tried to double up with Jen and Nate but the owner threw us out, sopping wet. Ended up in a hostel, no dinner that night. No indication of our accommodations at the pit stop the next day. How about having to set up our own tent on a damp hillside. No restrooms, a portapotti a quarter of a mile down the hill. Kate's preferance was a nearby pile of rocks. Oh yeah, and did I mention, a cold dinner of ham (which actually wasn't too bad) and a couple of potatoes.

Logged

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

Kate and Pat's blog indicates that in their incident with Ronald and Christina:

1. Kate and Pat were traveling in the wrong direction.2. There was a verbal altercation between the two teams(which I think was what we saw on the show).3. That Kate and Pat decided to abandon Ronald and Christina, but a replacement vehicle came by quickly.

From what I saw, the altercation was totally caused by an unreasonable request by Ronald that Kate and Pat turn their car around and come to them. I believe the applicable phrase is "Beggars can't be choosers," but apparently Ronald never learned that despite Christina efforts to put it into perspective for him.